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Year One by Nora Roberts (2017)

In Year One, Nora Roberts has published what I consider one of the best books she has written in years, and I have read every single book she has ever written. This futuristic novel is a combination dystopian science-fiction thriller and fantasy story: introducing readers to a cast of characters, both human and super-human, who are fighting preserve the United States from an apocalyptic civil war.

As the story opens (presumably in 2017,) an ill passenger boards a flight from Dublin to New York City and unknowingly infects hundreds of people who cross his path. This man sets into motion a violent, deadly plague — called The Doom — that in less than a month kills more than half of the world’s population. In almost no time at all, The Doom causes cities to crumble, governments to dissolve, and turns the United States into a violent waste-land.

Among the survivors there emerges three distinct groups of people: humans who are for unknown reasons immune to The Doom; a population of peaceful magical people (called The Uncanny) who have extraordinary powers; and their murderous counter-parts, The Dark Uncanny. Fear and paranoia grows between the three groups, as everyone struggles to find a way to survive in a world that is quickly running out of supplies needed to keep the remaining population alive.

A group of main characters emerge from the over-arching story, humans and Uncanny who want to work together to build a new, peaceful civilization. This group rescues survivors, stockpiles food, medicines, and other essentials, and who — after a months-long struggle — begins to build a city together, New Hope. At New Hope, the residents take up farming, raising animals, building schools and hospitals, and offering each other solace and peaceful respite from the bloody battles that have raged since the epidemic emerged.

However, two terrifying threats appear on the horizon and threaten all of the hard work the residents of New Hope have done. The Purity Warriors are a group of Christian extremist determined to rid the world of the Uncanny, often in the most bloody and horrific ways. The Dark Uncanny also begin to grow in power, they are using their supernatural abilities to kill everyone who attempts to control them — human or superhuman. A civil war begins to brew between the three groups.

One woman, an Uncanny named Lana, who has worked for months to protect survivors and help bring them from the across the country to New Hope becomes the target of increasingly terrifying attacks; many people begin to believe that she is the person prophesied to bring an end to the civil war to the restore peace to what is left of the United States.

This book is Nora Roberts at her very best: a unique and thrilling story populated with great characters; one that she manages to keep well-balanced between contemporary drama, science-fiction, and fantasy. I am looking forward to Book 2!